Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon

Don’t toss out those leek tops! This Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon recipe shows you a delicious way to enjoy this too often discarded part of a leek plant.

Today is the final day of Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. Why not enjoy some bacon on this day before the season of sacrifice begins? OK, you might not be giving up bacon for Lent, but it’s always nice to have an excuse to enjoy a bit of bacon! The savory flavor of this simple Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon recipe brings a little party right to your plate.

You can actually feel virtuous eating the bacon in this dish. We waste roughly 40% of our food in the United States. I’m sure the dark green tops of a leek plant contribute a relatively small amount toward that total waste figure, but it’s an easy place we can make a stand against waste in our own kitchen. Most people use the white and light lower portion of a leek, and discard the dark green leek tops. After you try this leek greens with bacon recipe, I’m pretty sure you’ll be keeping these leek tops! (photo below shows the portion of the leek top often discarded that we use for this recipe).

I first made this dish as on part of a “pork three ways” meal, something our 10 year old requested. He made that request because it sounded good, and would surely involve some bacon. I’m rolling out this Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon recipe today as the first part of the Pork Three Ways we had, stay tuned for the other recipes!

I’ve made use of leek greens before, having read that they taste good when sautéed. They were featured prominently in this Veggie Mac and Cheese Casserole, for instance. So when I was thinking of ways I could serve bacon in our pork three ways meal, I thought of the leek tops I had on hand from making soup. This recipe is the tasty result!

Recipes don’t get much simpler then this Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon. Simply crisp up some bacon in a skillet, and set the bacon aside to cool. Get your thinly sliced leek greens sizzling in that same skillet, then add chicken broth. Let that simmer for a good 20 minutes, and then reincorporate a portion of the bacon, leaving some to sprinkle on top.

This recipe has gotten great reviews, and we’ve already made it a couple times since first creating it. I mentioned Mardi Gras earlier, which makes me think this would be great served along with the Turkey Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya I posted the other day. Whether you serve the Leek Greens with Bacon along with Jambalaya, Pork Three Ways or another dish of your choosing, I hope you enjoy it. Waste not!

Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon

Don’t throw away those leek tops! Leek greens sautéed with bacon make a delicious side dish that will keep you from throwing away those leek tops again.

Author:Cooking Chat

Prep Time:10 mins

Cook Time:30 mins

Total Time:40 mins

Yield:4 servings

Category:Side Dish

Cuisine:American

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

3 slices bacon

3 leek greens (the top dark green part) sliced thin, cross-wise

⅓ cup low sodium chicken broth

Instructions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add bacon, cook for about 5 minutes, then flip to cook until both sides are browned, about 10 minutes total cooking time.

Remove the bacon from the pan, and set aside to cool on a paper towel. Break the bacon into bite sized bits when it has cooled, and divide the bacon bits into 2 equal portions.

Pour excess bacon grease out of the skillet, but leave a bit! Heat the other tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet on medium high, then add the sliced leek greens. Stir to combine the leak greens with the oil.

When the leek greens begin to sizzle a bit, stir in the chicken broth. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer covered on medium low for at least 20 minutes.

After the simmering time, remove the cover, stir in half of the bacon bits in with the leek greens. Reserve a bit of the bacon to sprinkle on top when serving.

Cook the leek greens with the bacon bits uncovered for a few minutes to let the flavors meld and have more liquid absorbed. Use a slotted spoon to serve the leek greens with bacon. Pass the reserved bacon so each person can add a bit more on top of the dish, and enjoy with the rest of your meal!

I love that you brought up the food waste issue. I am actually making a recipe tonight that calls for just the white part of the leek, so this gives me a way to stretch those leeks into a bonus side for later in the week. No waste! Thanks!

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[…] I’ve served the pulled pork plated along with Sweet Potatoes with Cumin Sage Butter and Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon. And as mentioned earlier, we also featured it as part of a pork three ways dinner that we will […]

[…] B was very eager for me to make this. For the bacon portion of the meal, I came up with a delicious Sautéed Leek Greens with Bacon, which drew rave reviews from all who tried it. You’ll want to save those leek tops next time […]